It is desirable to know the road surface friction coefficient during vehicle operation. For example, a control system may use this information to control one or more vehicle components to aid the driver in operating a vehicle in a safe manner. Currently there is no method to directly measure the road surface friction coefficient. The road surface friction coefficient therefore must be estimated using sensor information that is available on the vehicle. Conventional techniques of estimating the road surface friction coefficient may be unreliable as they are sensitive to different vehicle dynamic behaviors such as steering behaviors, among others.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide improved methods and systems for determining a type of a road surface. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.